More Wild Animal Adventures.

Yes, I've had more wild animal adventures. Yesterday I was a workhorse cleaning the bathrooms. I had hand scrubbed the two upstairs' bathroom floors and toilets and went downstairs to start on that one. I cleaned one side of the toilet then went to clean the other side when what did my little eyes see but a FROG!!!!
Oh my goodness!! Again, a shriek pierced the air of the Farmer household!! LOL I called my friend/neighbor, Lorrie, who was sad she missed out on the owl adventure. She is a brave woman. She came over and got it for me and put it in a fish tank so I could show the family that afternoon. (I know they were disappointed they missed out on the last adventure so I didn't want them to again.)
This totally grossed me out because I keep my house clean BUT Lorrie and I think it's leg was hurt. My cat probably caught it and had brought it in, and it found the way to the wettest place downstairs - the bathroom. I got him a little grasshopper for dinner. I don't know if he'll eat it but I tried. That DARN cat!!! Grrrr! Before I left to get the kids I checked in on him. It appeared he was trying to drown the grasshopper; he was on top of it in the water part of the tank. He seemed much perkier than when Lorrie first put him in the tank. Last night after Elizabeth's soccer practice, we put him back in the yard. Andrew made sure Daisy didn't come around while we let him go.

Per Andrew's usual request, I made baked spaghetti Monday night for dinner. I made ciabatta bread and a cranberry spinach salad to go with it. I have to share the recipe for the salad. I adapted it from an Allrecipes one, and it is just delicious! I've eaten one for lunch the last two days. Mmmmm!

Cranberry Spinach Salad

1 tablespoon butter
¾ cup almonds, slivered
1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
½ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons minced onion
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup cider vinegar
½ cup vegetable oil

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving. 8 servings.

I tried another new recipe last night. It was okay. Wade and the kids liked it but I won't be repeating. It was Rosemary Chicken. I made broccoli cheese casserole to go with it. Tonight is leftover night, and tomorrow I'll be making Cuban Pork.

Today, I came home from working out and actually took some time to scrapbook. Wow! The first time I've sat down to scrapbook at home in a while - well over a month or two. This is the layout I made:
Here are two recent cards I made for birthdays (Temple and Tyler). Guess who's was who's. ;)
And I took some photos of layouts I made while at the scrapbook retreat in Pigeon Forge last month. Here are a few of them:
I had to ask Andrew's teacher, Mrs. Shelley, something yesterday after school. I also wanted to check and see how he's behaving. She told me that he was just "so creative". She said the first week of school they were talking about or using aprons and he took paper and stapled it all together to make his own apron. It went all the way around him. She took a photo of him. She said she had never seen a student make clothes out of paper and she was impressed. (She's been teaching for well over 20 years too!) I was proud of course!! She made several more statements about his creativity. I knew he was creative in his building and drawing and the ideas he shared with us but Elizabeth is as well so I thought it was pretty normal. I guess not. I was labeled as creative by several teachers growing up - mainly in my writing (stories I made up) so maybe they get part of that from me. Wade says he wasn't creative as a child, but I think we all express some form of creativity in our lives. I think Wade's is how he thinks through and solves problems at work. He's very good at his job - better than most - and is known throughout our area because of it. Look, I have a whole family to be proud of!!! :) I know the Lord has blessed us all.

Here are two quotes I want to end with. They are from the e-devotional I get daily.

He who is not contented with what he has would not be contented with what he would like to have. ~Unknown

A man is about as big as the things that make him angry. ~Winston Churchill